A Systems View Across Time and Space
Table 2 Selected coding tables
From: User innovation and entrepreneurship: case studies from rural India
Code | Indicators | Examples from interview transcripts |
|---|---|---|
User-background | Financial situation | ‘I belong to a poor potter family. We used to get food grains for making pots.’ |
‘I grew up in a poor farmer family.’ | ||
Professional situation | ‘I worked as a mason, this did not interest me, then I set up a tea stall… after some time I worked in a factory for sometime…’ | |
‘I worked as a mechanic and electrician since childhood and learnt about machines.’ | ||
Reason for innovation | Automation of a manual process | ‘The manual process of cotton stripping was very time consuming and led to a lot of wastage. I always wanted to automate this process.’ |
Cost of the product | ‘Poor people also have a desire to use good products, but they can't afford many of these products. So, I wanted to make products which the poor could also afford.’ | |
Process-user innovation | Genesis of the idea | ‘Amla was grated by hand for making ladoos and process for making gulab jal was also very manual. I wanted to do something about it.’ |
Financial resources | ‘My brother in law gave me money to build the cotton stripper.’ | |
Product development | ‘The engine used to run for a 3–5 hours and had to be opened and cleaned after that because of faulty filter. I made several changes to the gassifier before it worked properly.’ | |
Challenges faced | ‘There were times when there was no food for even a meal… I have struggled a lot…’ | |
Enabler-user innovation | Financial support | ‘The biggest financial support I received was from my friends and family.’ |
Moral support | ‘I could not have done any of this, without the support of my family.’ | |
Process-user entrepreneurship | Business development | ‘I have exported to many countries including Singapore, South Africa, Germany and Kenya.’ |
Demos of the product | ‘I took the machine to Churu for a demonstration and I got an export order from that.’ | |
Sales | ‘I have a turnover of around Rs. 1 Crore.’ | |
Role of external organizations | ‘NIF was a very big support- they helped with patent, money…’ | |
Enabler-user entrepreneurship | Financial help | ‘NIF provided Rs. 2.5 lakh.’ |
IPR help | ‘NIF helped with patent of the product.’ | |
Marketing help | ‘NIF arranged for demos of my product at many exhibitions.’ | |
Recognition help | ‘It is because of NIF that I got the President's award.’ | |
Product development help | ‘NIF has helped with the redesign of the multi-processing machine so that it can process milk products also.’ | |
Impact - individual | Economic | ‘Financially today I am very comfortable.’ |
Social impact | ‘If you type “Mansukhbhai” on Google, I am on the top of the list. I have become famous as “Mitticool”.’ | |
Impact - society | Economic | ‘There are many women in my village who are using this machine to make herbal products.’ |
Social impact | ‘Every village this machine has gone to there has been a “wave of change”.’ | |
Environment impact | ‘The gassifier emits no pollution and is a very good alternative to diesel.’ |